R/63992 W/O G R Clark - + 19-8-1943

Hello,

AUS424613 LAC Kenneth Lionel WATKINS RAAF, was injured in an incident at Winnipeg, Manitoba, on 19-8-1943. Mentioned in the Item Notes of Watkins' A705, is CAN R/63992 W/O (Pilot) Gerald Clark HUGHES RCAF, who was killed on 19-8-1943. The Item Notes also mention an Anson being involved.

I can't locate an Anson loss on 19-8-1943 (maybe the aircraft was damaged).

GC. Hughes.

Col. Taken from "They shall grow not Old" Fleet Fort # 3629 was involved in a mid air collision with an Anson # 6505 at Winnipeg. The Anson landed safely at Winnipeg, but the Fleet Fort crashed killing the occupant, GC. Hughes.

My information confirms the Anson was with No. 2 Training Command, but that is it. 2 TC records appear to be very incomplete (at least in my collection). The accident is not even reported on the Anson's record card, although it did visit MacDonald Brother Aircraft in Winnipeg from 2 September to 10 October 1943, presumably for repairs. This aircraft survived the war, and had over 3100 hours logged when sold as scrap in 1946.

Some other candidates for this aircraft are 12 SFTS at Brandon, 17 SFTS at Souris, 33 SFTS at Carberry, 5 AOS at Winnipeg, 1 ANS and CNS at Rivers, and 3 B&GS at MacDonald. We would need to go through the School diaries to pin this down.

He was almost certainly a trainee WOP/AG. Those trained in Canada all spent time at a Wireless School, and at a B&GS. The BCATP turned out 2,795 RAAF WOP/AG by the end of the war. There were navigator/wireless operators under training in 1943, but I don't think any of them came from the RAAF.

By August 1943, the only operational Forts were with the Wireless Schools. Fort 3629 went from Fleet directly to No. 8 Repair Depot for conversion to a wireless trainer, and never served with a pilot training school.

Stevenson Field is the orginal name for the large airport built at Winnipeg in 1928, as part of the trans Canada airport network funded by the federal government. It was named for pioneer bush pilot Fred J. Stevenson. The RCAF had survey aircraft based there by 1930, and an Auxiliary Squadron was formed there in 1933. By 1943 it was a very busy place. It was headquarters to No. 2 Training Command, home to several schools and No. 8 Repair Depot, and the MacDonald Brothers factory on the east side of the airport was building Ansons and overhauling all sorts of BCATP aircraft.

It was renamed Winnipeg International Airport in the late 1950s, and is still home to CFB Winnipeg, which includes the Canadian Forces Navigation School, several other specialized schools, and the headquarters of 1 Canadian Air Division (which manages all CF operational units).

The crew of the Fort had been out on a wireless exercise and were set up to land. They struck the Anson at 125 feet above the ground.. The Fort dove into the ground out of control. The Anson landed safely.

"Fort made short circuit converging from above and behind the Anson. While (grass landing) light and then red flashed to Fort, but was unobserved by pilot".